Her face tightened into an incredulous scowl. “Void, they don’t. I was joking.”
“Ahh. Epithesium, sir.”
“What?”
“Mesa put some epithesium in my water. Actually, she said she ‘laced’ it. That sounds kinda nefarious, doesn’t it? Did you know she enlisted?”
“How much did she put in?”
“I have no idea. It’s been a while since I’ve had any. I forgot how awesome it is.” He drummed his fingers in the air and grinned. “Tingly, a bit.”
“Well, calm down, Oculus. You had a rough go of it. If you get too worked up, you’ll end up over that latrine again before we know it.”
“Noooo, thank you. Okay, I’ll calm down, sir. It’s your turn anyway. So, go ahead.”
“My turn?”
“Yeah. You told the one about the old explorer guy who wanted revenge. I told the one about the boy and how he ended up at the Divide.”
“So?”
“So, it’s a thing now—”
“No, it’s not.”
“—which means, it’s your turn.”
She scoffed. “I don’t think so.”
“You could tell the one about the girl,” he prompted. “How she ended up at the Divide?”
She gave him a stoic glare that sent a shiver up his spine. “That’s classified.”
He laughed. “I knew you were gonna say that.”
Rake refocused on the corridor in front of her and didn’t respond.
Though certainly curious about how she’d ended up on the Argus, what he really wanted to know was how her faith in the Legion had remained so steadfast, despite how poorly they treated the Sentinels. He’d have grown bitter long ago, and though he didn’t consider himself the most steadfast person in the universe, he was fairly certain extending her faith this long should be considered nothing short of delusional.
“Maybe that specific story is classified,” he assented, “but you must know more stories. How about the girl who became the most lauded Titan of our generation? Origin stories are the best.”
“What’s this all about, Oculus? Why all the questions?”
“You said you like knowing someone before you ask them to risk their life for you.”
“Yeah.”
He cleared his throat. “Well, I like knowing the people who are asking me to risk my life.”
It hadn’t sounded so serious in his head. But it caused her scowl to fade, and she grew quiet for a few long moments. “That’s fair.”
“And that little hull jaunt makes…” Cavalon counted off to himself. “The third time since we met. Arguably four.”
The muscles in her jaw flexed. “Four? Dumping those warheads does not count.”
“Oh, no? Well, what if I’d dropped one and the command-trigger wiring had sparked the firing set and triggered the missile?”
“You’re making that up.”
“You don’t know that,” he huffed. “Sir.”
Rake just shook her head. They reached a peak in the hallway, and the floors began to slope down instead of up. The slanted, scaled walls became subtly wider again, indicating they’d passed the center of the gate, and were on their way out to the starboard edge.
Cavalon rubbed the nape of his neck, unsure of how to prompt Rake without pissing her off. “Okay,” he said finally. He gave her a grin, which she completely ignored. “I’ll take a stab at it myself.” He threw his shoulder back to reseat the awkwardly long plasma rifle, then rubbed his hands together. “Just let me know when I veer off track.”